boys’ night out by jessica iredale irons in the...
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ALL-AMERICAN MAN
Todd Snyder Launches Own Men’s CollectionFormer J. Crew and Ralph Lauren designer introduces line for fall.
BOYS’ NIGHT OUT BY JESSICA IREDALE
Irons in the Fire Max Irons – son of Jeremy and
Sinéad Cusack – is creating some heat with his own acting career. Page 7.
Dunhill’s fall collection had all the elements of classic English men’s wear: sharp suits, rugged outerwear inspired by aristocrats and explorers, and evening looks with subtle touches of sparkle. Here, a collection of wool suits, including a three-piece navy twill number photographed at the company’s town house in London’s Mayfair. For more on London Fashion Week’s men’s wear collections, see page 3.
February 24, 2011
Three’s Company
by JEAN E. PALMIERI
TODD SNYDER is fi nally taking the plunge.
A little more than two years after leaving J. Crew as the company’s senior vice president of men’s design, Snyder is launch-ing his own men’s wear collection. The line made its debut Wednesday night in New York City, across the street from the compa-ny’s showroom and offi ce.
“This is something I’ve dreamt about my whole life,” Snyder told Men’s Week. “I come from very humble roots and when I moved to New York 20 years ago, it was always my goal to do my own line. My father told me to work for the best before you go out on your own, so I spent 18 years at Ralph [Polo Ralph Lauren]
and J. Crew.” He has also interned for Jo-seph Abboud and worked at the Gap.
During his years at J. Crew, Snyder was credited with introducing tailored clothing, working on the 10 Easy Pieces campaign, forming collaborations with heritage brands such as Timex, Red Wing, Thomas Mason and Alden and opening the company’s fi rst men’s-only store, the Liquor Store in TriBe-Ca, in 2008.
The Iowa-born Snyder, who grew up idolizing American icons such as Cary Grant and Steve Mc-Queen, also did his homework in other ways, working as a tai-
lor’s assistant in Des Moines. “That taught me the love and the art of tailoring,” he said.
{Continued on page 3}
by SHARON EDELSON
NEW YORK — Etro is bringing its elegant bohemian style to SoHo, a neighborhood once synonymous with artists and hippies, but that’s now populated with national brands and upscale shops.
The Milanese fashion house on Friday will open a 4,400-square-foot bi-level store at 89 Greene Street. Etro’s second store in Manhattan, the unit is expected to do $4 million to $5 million in sales in the first year, according to Ippolito Etro, the firm’s chief executive officer. The company’s Madison Avenue flagship opened in 1996.
“We became aware that many of our Madison Avenue customers have downtown addresses,” Etro said. “We know that the European tourist views SoHo as the New York shopping destination.”
Etro’s version of eclecticism is decidedly luxurious. Natural and blended fabrics reflect the company’s roots as a fiber manufacturer in the Sixties. The signature paisley pat-tern is visible throughout the store in different incarnations, including printed on sheer men’s shirts, splayed across ties and covering men’s jackets.
Men’s suits, designed by Kean Etro, average $1,900. A men’s brown leather bomber jacket is $3,000 and there are versions in other colors, such as green. The women’s collection, designed by Veronica Etro, features bright colors and neutrals for spring. A paisley silk and cotton dress is $1,750; a teal lace jacket, $1,800, and skirt, $1,250. Handbags made from paisley jacquard fabric are treated with a plasticization technique. There are versions with graffitilike art topped with leather flower appli-qués. There are also leather satchels, straw boater hats, purple suede sandals and jewelry such as necklaces with fish motifs.
Etro’s surroundings are cushy. The first floor, devoted to men’s, has Italian Santa Fiora stone tiles, a large orange area rug with fuchsia trim and leather accent chairs. Etro restored the landmark building; millwork for the columns and capitals was completed in Italy. An industrial painted steel staircase leads to the lower level, where women’s is housed.
Ippolito Etro said the SoHo store carries products with a downtown sensibility, adding the company is in the process of developing products specifically for the store.
The SoHo unit will bring Etro’s store count in the U.S. to five. “There are certainly other cities in our radar,” the ceo said, declining to be more specific.
2 WWD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011 Men’s Week
ITALIAN FLAVOR: J. Crew is showing its love for Italian men’s fabrics in a new video that will debut today on its Web site. Called “Made in Italy,” it’s the second in a series of three short films by Douglas Keeve, the director of “Unzipped.” Entitled “About a Thread Count,” the video follows Frank Muytjens, head of men’s design, and Jenna Lyons, Crew’s president and executive creative director, to two of Italy’s oldest and most prestigious mills, Thomas Mason and Crespi, to learn more about the evolution of the company’s men’s shirts and suits. The video includes interviews with Silvio Albini, a fifth-generation member of the family that runs Thomas Mason, as well as Francesca Crespi, the first woman to run the Crespi mill, which has been in the same family for more than 200 years. Last month, the Italy video was “About a Shoe,” while the final one, “About a Print,” tours Ratti & Canepa and will debut in March. — JEAN E. PALMIERI
CAM’S NEW TEAM: Under Armour is going back to its football roots, signing 2010 Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton as the newest face for the brand. The quarterback for the Auburn Tigers and 2010 AP Player of the Year will be featured in a national advertising and in-store campaign and will also wear the latest apparel from the brand at this week’s NFL Scouting Combine. This includes the Under Armour Coreshort and the company’s Game Day Armour collection.
“Cam Newton is an incredible talent and a proven champion whose skills are unique and exciting,” said Matt Mirchin, senior vice president of sports marketing for Under Armour. Other NFL stars who sport Under Armour include Tom Brady, Miles Austin and Anquan Boldin. — J.E.P.
SHY GUY: Maybe you’ve heard of the forthcoming documentary “Bill Cunningham New York.” How is that film? “I wouldn’t know,” said Cunningham, the New York Times Sunday Styles photo-columnist, speaking over the phone from Times headquarters Wednesday morning. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to see films about yourself.”
Producer Philip Gefter and director Richard Press told WWD at a private screening in February that they spent eight years trying to convince the octogenarian photographer to agree to let them make a documentary about his work. “We wore him down, and he trusts us,” explained Gefter, who worked at the Times for 15 years as a page-one picture editor and arts writer.
Cunningham had a different explanation. “I did cooperate because the publisher of the Times asked me to,” he said. He explained that he has a very good relationship with Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and his family. “He didn’t call in a favor,” Cunningham said, “but I just wouldn’t disappoint him.” — ZEKE TURNER
MeMo Pad
Malverdi Said Joining Dior HommeGivenchy chief executive officer would move into top men’s job in April.
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PARIS — Signaling its commitment to Dior Homme, Christian Dior is tapping a key talent from Bernard Arnault’s extended constellation of luxury holdings to oversee the brand. According to market sources, Fabrizio Malverdi, chief executive officer of Givenchy, will take the helm of Dior Homme in April.
Malverdi will report to Dior president and ceo Sidney Toledano, under whom he had served as managing director of John Galliano, where Toledano is president. Toledano recruit-ed Malverdi, an Italian national, from the Muriella Burani Fashion Group in 2006. He left John Galliano to become ceo of Givenchy, also owned by Arnault’s LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
Neither Malverdi nor Dior officials could be reached for comment Wednesday.
Malverdi will join Dior Homme with a solid track record at Givenchy, which logged strong sales and profitability growth in 2010, according to market sources.
And he will arrive at a time when the Dior fashion house is on a strong upswing, having logged a 15 percent jump in rev-enues last year to 826 million euros, or $1.1 billion, while prof-its vaulted 169.2 percent to 35 million euros, or $46.5 million. Sales in Dior’s own boutiques advanced 22 percent last year, or 16 percent at constant exchange rates, with strength across both women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and leather goods.
As part of its upscaling drive, Dior is building bigger and more sumptuous boutiques, with men’s products key to the mix. For example, Dior’s One Peking Road flagship in Hong Kong, which has just been expanded to 10,000 square feet from 6,500 square feet, now features a section dedicated to Dior Homme.
Belgian designer Kris Van Assche, named creative director of Dior Homme in 2007, has been charting a new direction for the brand distinct from his predecessor, Hedi Slimane, mov-ing on from razor-sharp, rock ’n’ roll-influenced collections to a still minimalist, yet more languid silhouette. Van Assche is also known for his sophisticated approach to luxury and pen-chant for design with discreet, yet distinctive detailing.
Hallmarks of Van Assche’s era at Dior Homme include raw-edged finishing and featherweight, unlined tailoring. He has also reworked classic men’s wear staples including jeans, sneakers, polo shirts, blousons, trenchcoats and tuxedos.
His fall collection, paraded last month before the likes of Arnault, Karl Lagerfeld, Sean “Diddy” Combs and a bounty of French film stars, featured double-face cashmere coats and slouchy, full-legged pants.
According to sources, Sue Whiteley, currently Louis Vuitton’s managing director for the U.K., Ireland and Scandinavia, is in line to succeed Malverdi at Givenchy. Whiteley and Givenchy officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LAURENT FOLCHER
Malverdi Said Joining Dior Homme
Etro Opens SoHo Store
A look from Dior Homme.
Inside the Greene Street unit.
For more Store ImageS, See
WWD.com/menswear-news.
00WWD xxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxx xx, 2011 3WWD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011
Men’s runway shows spotlight Savile Row sensibility.
Men’s Week
Obituary
Nancy Cesarani Dead at 71
LONDON — Britain’s men’s wear designers are smartening up, taking their cues from Savile Row fin-ery and dapper London men who care deeply about dressing, such as Bryan Ferry, Manolo Blahnik and David Beckham.
“Young people are getting sick of jeans,” said Philip Start, a London retailer and designer, who on Wednesday presented his tailored line, Mr. Start, on the last day of London Fashion Week, which is dedicated to men’s wear. “You can wear tailored or bespoke clothes and still have a casual look.”
Mr. Start this season featured four different fits of tweed jackets in colors such as teal and purple; three-piece velvet suits and gray flannel suits, which are also sold as separates. There was also a surfeit of white shirts with a variety of collars.
Dunhill kicked off men’s day with a show at its namesake townhouse in Mayfair on Tuesday evening. The collection offered updated classics such as gray wool flannel unstructured soft jackets with patch pock-ets and more formal double-breasted styles. Outerwear came in the form of a luxurious camel alpaca wool overcoat, a navy duffle coat, satin or shearling bomber jackets and a roomy “Arctic” parka, inspired by the British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. For evening, ac-cessories included jeweled buttons and cuff links and a retro Art Deco silver thread embroidered bow tie.
Hardy Amies’ new designer, Claire Malcolm, turned out a luxe lifestyle collection that featured nubby “barleycorn” knit sweaters, puffer vests covered in a light blue wool fabric and boiled wool hunting jackets. Double-breasted cashmere suits and coats were a staple.
“I was thinking about Hardy’s life and sense of style when he was in his 20s and 30s, how he spoke five or six languages and how much he traveled,” said Malcolm, who worked previously with Kim Jones, E. Tautz and Kanye West. “One minute he was on the slopes, and the next he was in a suit.”
Another house that caters to the luxe-loving jet-set-ter is E. Tautz, which showed a collection inspired by a fall trip to the Isle of Mull. There were oversize wool peacoats in mustard yellow or dove gray, and turtleneck sweaters in maroon or navy had appliquéd lion or cas-tle motifs. Patrick Grant, who owns the brand and its sibling tailoring house Norton & Sons, also sent out a chic take on outdoorsy gear, with a sporty-looking field
jacket in gray herringbone tweed and a burgundy gilet done in quilted doeskin.
Both James Long and Topman Design took a rich and colorful route, with Long showing purple tweed over-coats with rounded shoulders; knee-grazing sweater coats with yellow, gray and cornflower blue stripes, and a standout leather coat with jigsaw puzzle-like ponyskin insets. Topman Design had a laid-back, Fifties feel, in-spired by photographer Brassaï’s images of Paris night-hawks. Suits came in rough-hewn gray herringbone, while chunky fishermen’s sweaters and fine knit cardi-gans in gray, maroon and navy were often shot through with gold or silver Lurex thread. Christopher Raeburn’s collection of outerwear for men and women, filled with military-inspired silhouettes, had grosgrain ribbons sewn into the seams of coats and leather toggles on gray duffle coats made from blanket fabric.
The edgy yin to the tailored and sophisticated yang of the season came from the emerging talents at Fashion East and the group show Man. At Fashion East, Matthew Miller’s outerwear came in wool felt in colors such as bright yellow or Yves Klein blue, while Astrid Andersen’s offered up rapper-inspired blingy parkas with mink tails and colorful satin bomber jackets.
At Man, the Topshop-sponsored group show that has a reputation for being experimental, designs ran from the simple to the all-out wacky. Felipe Rojas Llanos’ collection included ankle-length capes with structured shoulders and jersey T-shirts worn with shiny cropped pants, while New Power Studio designer Thom Murphy showed olive velour sweatsuits worn with bracelets that held burning incense. Martine Rose sent out the most wearable collection; designs included bomber jackets made in a patchwork of waxed cotton and fleece.
Jonathan Anderson proved his flair for unisex dressing with a punkish schoolboy collection for J.W. Anderson that worked just as well on men as it did on women and featured slim wool pants, chunky parkas and skinny mohair sweaters.
Katie Eary had one of the wildest collections of the week, inspired by Frankenstein and the Fifties, with leather biker gear covered in panels of neon pink, green and leopard skin prints; artfully crafted patent leather T-shirts cut to look like giant spiderwebs; crin-kly green foil trousers and fluorescent pink or green rubber jackets with shearling collars.
Luxe Living in London
NANCY MARIE CESARANI, wife of designer Salvatore Cesarani and co-founder of the Cesarani brand, died at her Brooklyn, N.Y., home on Tuesday of cancer. She was 71.
Nancy Marie Staluppi was born May 29, 1939, in Brooklyn to Joseph, a painter, and Teresa, a seamstress. She graduated from the High School of Fashion Industries in 1957 and completed an internship with the Sorelle Fontana couture house in Rome during her senior year. She met Salvatore Cesarani in high school, and they were married for 49 years.
Together they formed S.J.C. Concepts LLC, an apparel company that creates the Cesarani men’s and women’s collections. Nancy served as the business development manager, public relations director and run-way model coordinator.
Outside the business, she enjoyed gardening, reading, cinema, cook-ing and spending time with her family at their country home in East Hampton, N.Y.
In addition to Salvatore, she is survived by her daughter Lisa, son Christopher and his wife Rebecca, and a sister, Marie (Staluppi) Brown.
A viewing will be held today from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Joseph G. Duffy Funeral Home, 255 Ninth Street, Brooklyn. A funeral mass will take place on Friday at 10 a.m. at St. Saviour Catholic Church, 611 Eighth Avenue (6th Street), Brooklyn. Burial will be in East Hampton.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation. — JEAN E. PALMIERI
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His 60-piece debut collection of tailored clothing, sportswear and furnishings mixes British tailoring with American vintage sensibility. Snyder creates a juxtaposition of classic pieces with more utilitarian elements such as tailored vests mixed with cargo pants or jeans. The collection also has military influences, such as an officer’s coat, selvage chinos and aviator-inspired leather jackets. There is a wool-cashmere blend Donegal sweater, stonewashed cashmere cardigans and knit sweatshirts, plaid sport shirts in vintage Italian fabrics, black chambray shirts and a variety of jeans, some of which sport resin-crinkled washes. In terms of suits, the fit borders on a European silhouette. “It’s not all-American boxy but it’s not skinny, either,” he said.
Price points range from woven shirts at $180 and sweaters at $300-$400 to jeans at $210, a wool peacoat for $850 and three-piece suits for $1,100.
Snyder said, “We’re making luxe versions of classic items, so there are a lot of highs and lows.”
The shirts, jeans and suits are made in America, while the sweaters are made in Asia and the cashmere comes from Italy.
“Our customer is an all-American guy, but global. He understands great food and architecture,” Snyder said.
The collection has already been picked up by specialty stores in Japan and Snyder is hoping to land some high-end U.S. accounts as well, such as Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Mar-cus. Some 200 people were expected to attend the presentation on Wednesday night to launch the line, which is self-financed.
“This collection tells the story of who I am,” he said. “Snyder in Dutch means ‘tailor.’”
Todd Snyder Launches Men’s Wear Collection
{Continued from page one}
A look from the Todd Snyder New York collection.
Felipe Rojas Llanos J.W. Anderson Topman Design
4 WWD thursday, february 24, 2011 Men’s Week
Men’s Fabrics Get Less Formal for 2012by KATYA FOREMAN and KERRY OLSEN
CASuAL LuxuRY continues to be the driving trend in men’s wear fabrics for spring-summer 2012, seen in an array of noble qualities with a relaxed, sporty feel. Sportswear fabrics are looking cleaner and more luxurious, while tai-loring trends fall into two camps: ultraclassic sartorial fabrics or updated, lighter and softer reinterpretations of traditional cloths.
For example, at the recent Première Vision Paris fabric fair, a number of British mills introduced relaxed yet ever-elegant versions of Savile Row-flavored tailoring fab-rics in fresh, light colors like sky blue, olive and burnt orange. These included a clean-cut herringbone linen design by Abraham Moon & Sons and gossamer T-shirt qualities by Johnstons of Elgin, a specialist in cashmere and fine wools based in Scotland.
“There was a lot of nice color, even pas-tels, or brighter colors contrasted with natural grounds. Things are looking more relaxed, less formal,” said Jason Basmajian, artistic director of Brioni.
“Customers want a suit that doesn’t look like what’s on the market at the mo-ment,” said Roberto Leva, design director at Leggiuno SpA, which introduced a new col-lection of pure cotton jacket and pant fabrics, as well as a line of cotton-linen blends de-signed to resemble heavy wools, mohair and tweed. “We look at the past and reinterpret; it’s about extremely modern fabrics with a vintage look,” said Leva.
Highlights at Marzotto included a pure wool blazer fabric that resembles jersey.
Indigo and micro designs were among key trends for shirtings while, in sports-wear, Lanvin men’s wear designer Lucas
Ossendrijver observed an abundance of dry textured papery fabrics that were “a little more stiff.” He lauded Olmetex’s cotton-nylon blends that resemble nylon but don’t shine.
“Sportswear is starting to become dressi-er, with clean surfaces, not so many patterns; there’s more of a sophisticated approach to casualwear,” said Christian Lippich, de-signer of Tiger of Sweden’s men’s line, add-ing that he saw a lot of micro Oxford weaves and coatings on outerwear fabrics and linen. Paul Surridge, a men’s wear designer at Jil Sander, said he saw a lot of Japanese-style raw, washed or treated fabrics that were
“either eco or techno looking.” Paul Smith lauded the lightweight nylons and dry matte fabrics by Dinamo that are good for the sum-mer season. “There were a lot of washed fabrics, especially in men’s shirting. What’s interesting is weavers are suggesting that you make the shirt and then wash the fabric,” said Smith.
At Milano unica in Italy, mills are gear-ing up for a bright spring-summer 2012. Exhibitors spearheaded classic collections and branched out into additional experi-mental and vibrant lines to attract more ready-to-wear clients. Key trends included unusual weaves, lightweight and extra-fine luminous fabrics in radiant tones, and bright hues. Vintage and weathered effects that pre-
viously dominated the sector were sidelined for spring.
Manufacturers inside the fair’s Ideabiella section were bullish about newness. “As raw materials [become] more difficult to source, producers have gotten more creative,” said Steven Gronich, u.S. sales director for Lanificio di Tollegno. “The shortages are forcing manufacturers to create new blends from all forms of fibers.”
On show at Tollegno were new cotton, mo-hair and linen soft-handle blends in macro designs, including checks, and bright hues such as reds.
Italian mill Botto Fila, celebrating its cen-tennial this year, hoped to stand out from the crowd with a collection of reworked classics that included finer weights, silk and wool blends in contrast mélanges and an array of nonsolid colors and patterns.
Lanificio Ermenegildo Zegna & Figli SpA showcased two collections, a new fashion of-fering of two-tone fabrics in blue hues and an array of technological offerings including cool-effect textiles that reflect sunlight and an anti-stain fabric. The company’s silk mill, Tessitura Novara, exhibited a line of fabrics with the addition of waterproof membranes. Italian mill Botto Giuseppe also harnessed technology for spring with its “liquid wool” line that blends silk with techno fibers to
produce effects including stretch, shiny and iridescent surfaces and soft handles.
Men’s suiting wool mill Reda expertly combined a melting pot of cultures in its col-lection that featured preppy-inspired Vichy squares alongside a Colonial-themed line in intense metallic, green and sand hues.
Luxury producer Loro Piana previewed its lightweight yarn blends in cashmere and silk with evocative names including Sunset, referring to its intended use for cool summer evenings. Natural fibers were utilized to pro-duce the company’s sporty outdoor collection that aims to inject natural fibers — including linen wool blends in neutral colors — with performance qualities.
Within the fair’s Shirt Avenue section, Italian producer Testa spearheaded the sec-tor’s fascination with newness for spring, exhibiting its traditional Made in Italy range alongside a sportier line, also produced in Italy. “Our clients are demanding something different for weekends and evenings, but want to retain a luxury aspect,” said chief designer Gianluca Bena, referring to the col-lection’s modern striped qualities in bold col-ors and lightweight denim-look fabrics with jacquard prints. In a confident mood, Bena said after many seasons of price dominating the agenda, buyers are demanding unique and quality shirting again.
Taiana showcased new techniques includ-ing subtle chalklike prints over florals, Liberty-style prints, and blue hues including subtle tie-dyed effects.
“There’s finally a willingness to try some-thing new,” said Matteo Taiana, manager of Taiana’s shirting division, which also pre-viewed its new collection of rtw stretch jac-quard blazers.
Exhibitors at Première Vision and Milano Unica showed reworked traditional patterns and bright colors.
Clockwise from above: Preppy patterns and bright hues from Reda; Leggiuno SpA’s new collection of pure cotton jacket and pant fabrics; colorful choices from Testa; lightweight wool cashmere summer check by Reid & Taylor.
“Customers want a suit that doesn’t look like what’s on the market at the moment.” — RobERto LEVa, LEGGiUno SPa
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LAS VEGAS — The New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies may be archrivals in the National League, but that didn’t stop Shane Victorino from embracing the nickname bestowed upon him by a Mets broadcaster.
“The announcer called me ‘The Flyin’ Hawaiian’ during a game after a play I made in the outfield,” he said, “and I really like it.”
The award-winning Hawaiian high school track star, who was named the fastest base runner in the Dodgers’ organization in 1999, spent his last day of the off-season at the Project show in Las Vegas last week. Victorino appeared at the Robert Graham booth to help promote the brand’s new line of Major League Baseball woven sport shirts.
“I leave tomorrow night,” he said, “but I’m ready to get back to work. I’m itching to go.”
The Gold Glove center fielder, who lives in Vegas in the off-season, said he also loves fashion. “It’s ever evolving. You wear something, and two weeks later there’s a different design,” he said.
The MLB shirts, which will be sold at upscale department and specialty stores and stadiums around the country, are
lively and “flamboyant,” Victorino said. “You’ve got to have confidence to wear them.”And although he is a fan of the MLB shirts, Victorino said that off the field, he’s really a
“[casual] guy. I’m a total jeans and T-shirt guy. I grew up in Hawaii and wore flip-flops, board shorts and a T-shirt — and not even a T-shirt most of the time because it’s so hot.”
Hopefully it’ll be hot in Clearwater, Fla., the Phillies’ spring training home, where Victorino will be getting ready for the season.
“We’ve got a good team,” he said. “Our pitching staff is arguably the best in the league, and the offense is there. We’ve just got to hit. So on paper, we’re the favorites. But we’ve still got to play.”
Victorino knows that no matter which team seems strongest, anything can happen over the 162-game season. “Any team can come through. The Cardinals and Braves are going to be good. The Marlins are better, and the Giants are the defending champs,” he said. “So you just have to take it one day at a time.” — JEAN E. PALMIERI
Men’s Week
Man of THE WEEK
Aviator sunglasses frame his face perfectly and make him look sexy
Orange epaulets still don’t marry the military trench
to the rest of the outfit
Tie too narrow for shirt collar
Braided belt tries too hard to match every shade of mustard
Unless you’re on a yacht, never wear orange pants
Pants too long
CArmelO AnThOny C-newest new york Knick
by LUISA ZARGANI
MILAN — As remote as boxing may sound from fashion, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana believe the runway is not necessarily the antithesis to the ring and are supporting the Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder team during the first World Series of Boxing championship.
The designers share a passion for sports in general and have over the years provided off-field uniforms for the AC Milan soccer team among others, but this is the first time they are associating their brand with a team.
“We like the discipline that goes with sports, and boxing in particular,” said Gabbana. “Take a look at any stadium, and see how sports join together people with so many different ideas and backgrounds, how a lawyer sits next to a factory worker — it’s all very democratic. Through the same language, a passion for sports abates all social differences,” stated the designer, who himself boxed in his free time until two years ago, when problems with ligaments in his right hand forced him to stop.
“I like a tiring training, and I’m happy when I feel the fa-tigue — it’s the same when I work, I need to know that I’ve accomplished something, and this also goes for Domenico,” said Gabbana.
While the designers created some boxing pieces for their Gym collection over the years, they outfitted the Milano Thunder team with everything from their boxing trunks and gloves, robes and warm-up sweats to formal tailored suits,
which the team wore when it attended the Dolce & Gabbana men’s fall show in January. There are also more casual items such as jeans and down jackets, and accessories including travel cases, belts and tie clips. All are made-to-measure, and every piece is mindful of each athlete’s quirks and supersti-tions, such as a longer robe for lightweight gold medal world champion Domenico Valentino.
Needless to say, the athletes can’t help gushing about the designers. “They are very much present, and attend any match they can, it’s much more than we expected — they are fantastic people,” said Valentino, who, recall-ing his front row seat at the show, said he couldn’t “even begin to describe the emotion” that day. In Italy, a country where most sports are overshadowed by soccer, boxing is gaining in popularity, but in no way does it compare with the sport’s sta-tus Stateside, with multimillion-dollar purses or major events staged by powerful organizers. All the more reason for these ath-letes to be grateful for the designers’ endorsement.
“This discipline is the oldest in the world and this sponsor-ship allows for greater visibility, which can help boxing really
take off here,” said Luca Podda, Italian middleweight cham-pion. Referring to artistic photographs of the team by Mariano Vivanco, Podda said this kind of exposure allows “people to see us as fit, handsome young men, normal people and not as war machines.” Gabbana underscored how boxers exercise their whole bodies. “It’s easier to dress a boxer compared to a soccer player, who usually has very big legs,” he said.
Olympic bronze medalist Vincenzo Picardi said the team trains twice a day, including runs outdoors, whatev-er the season, with a brief break for lunch. The semipro-fessional team consists of five categories, from bantam-weight to heavyweight, with three athletes per category.
The championship, with two matches per month, kicked off in November. The European leg will end in mid-March and the winning team will meet champs from other continents.
“Athletes work with their bodies and they can wear de-signer clothes just like models,” said Valentino, who sports 15 tattoos — and 15 stitches he got one day after a match. “Men have accepted fashion and today take care of their bodies, so who is better than an athlete as an example?”
Carmelo Anthony at the NBA All-Star Game last week showed he cares about fashion, but pushed his luck with this military Mustard King look.
Dolce & Gabbana Dresses Milan Boxing TeamThe sponsorship is expected to bring the sport to a new level.
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6 WWD thursday, february 24, 2011
hat is it with actors wanting to fly planes? There was a list a few weeks ago in some weekly tabloid that rounded up all the celebrities with pilot’s licenses. Maybe mas-tering the sky is a way to reclaim
the control they’re constantly giving up to movie di-rectors, film studios, publicists, etc. In any case, Max Irons would like to get in on that one day. “I’ve always wanted to be a fighter pilot,” says Irons, 25. “But I don’t want to kill people. I’d hate to.”
So acting it is. Irons, the youngest son of Jeremy Irons and Sinéad Cusack, will appear in “Red Riding Hood” (March 11), the dark, lusty thriller/fairy tale directed by Catherine Hardwicke, best known for turning Robert Pattinson into a demigod overnight with the original “Twilight” film. Irons plays Henry, one part of a very pretty love triangle, which also includes Amanda Seyfried, in the title role, and Shiloh Fernandez.
So he’s a heartthrob?“Your words, not mine,” says Irons, on the line from
Los Angeles, where he has just flown in from his home in London for an open-ended stint of press, press, meetings, press and meetings.
The thing about a phone interview is that, while im-mensely convenient for all involved, with it you forfeit your ability to observe and, most important, judge your subject up close and personal. By the sound of his voice, Irons is just lovely, all upbeat English charm, saying things like, “What’s that, love?” From the photos I’ve seen, he is gorgeous, or at least extremely photogenic, which is essential for a movie ca-reer. Even better, he tells me that he’s 6 feet 3 inches. And since everyone knows that Hollywood is the place where short guys go to thrive, things are looking good. He has his father to thank for the height.
At this point, you really can’t talk to Max Irons without much of the conversation winding up about Jeremy Irons. Not yet, anyway. But Max is prepared for those questions. He’s in the unique position of being a relative newcomer profes-
sionally but has spent his entire life around the business. He says he can’t quite pinpoint when he knew his parents were actors; it was more like “one of them was always absent, and they were always doing strange things in foreign countries.” As for when he realized they were famous, it was one summer spent in Portugal when his father was filming “The House of the Spirits” with Meryl Streep, and seven-year-old Max spotted a long lens in the bushes. “I told my dad, and he went out and threw a shovel at them, which I quite liked,” he says.
Doesn’t he find the whole thing bizarre? People in bushes, putting on makeup and pretending for a living?
“It is a really weird thing to do,” says Irons. “But it’s also a really fun thing to do. I mean, it’s fine when you’re a kid
and someone runs into the playground and goes, ‘I’ve got this great game of pretend,’ and you play.…As an actor, getting to play, getting to use your imagination and be childish — it is weird but it’s wonderful.”
If he has to say, Irons classifies himself as a mama’s boy who has inherited his mother’s Irish sensibility, hopefully her work ethic, and what looks like her bone structure.
But fathers are always role models for their sons, even more so when the offspring chooses to follow in the family business. The list of sons of celebrities who have gone on to great acting ca-reers (Michael Douglas, Ben Stiller, um, Charlie Sheen) is even shorter than the list of celebrity pilots, a fact of which Max is acutely aware. His father told him so. “In England, nepotism as a concept is kind of despised,” says Irons. “Less so here, I’ve noticed. I can see why there’s a mis-conception that it’s easier when your parents are actors, but it doesn’t work out at all. In fact, it’s the reverse.”
The elder Irons has mostly imparted his wis-dom with regard to the business side of the in-dustry, leaving the technical for his son to learn on his own. “Acting advice is a bit like your par-ents teaching you how to drive a car,” says Max Irons. “You know they’re right, but you still kind
of want them to shut up a bit.”But if Max ever finds himself charged with nuancing the
sexy side of a creepy character, he has several examples to look to from his father’s body of work, none of which have been off limits. “There is one I wish had been — it was called ‘Damage.’ Lots of sex scenes, which is quite hard,” says Irons.
I have not seen “Damage,” the 1992 Louis Malle film about a father (Irons) who falls for his son’s fiancée (Juliette Binoche), but a quick scan of IMDB.com turns up an image of Irons and Binoche sitting naked and intertwined Indian-style.
So this was a family screening?“No…thank God,” says Irons. “I would have run out of the
room screaming.”
7WWD THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011Men’s Week
Max Irons: The Son Also Acts
Boys’ Night OutBy Jessica Iredale
W Max Irons
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